A strong first half set the platform for Greytown's 31-10 victory over Marist in Saturday's feature club rugby match.
There was much anticipation leading into the clash of the two unbeaten teams in the Moose Kapene Cup senior competition. But the match was effectively over at halftime, with Greytown scoring four tries and taking a 28-3 lead into the break.
The win was set up by the rugged Greytown forward pack, which forced a number of turnovers, and regularly had Marist on the back foot in the early scrums. However, it was the backs that did the damage on the scoreboard. Centre Carlos Rimene scored the first try after a scintillating 40m run that saw him easily beat three tackles. Three minutes later, lanky young winger Abe Southey intercepted a wayward Marist pass and sprinted 70m to dot down under the posts.
That fired up Marist, who started to put some good phases together. A slashing run by rising star fullback Malatai Malatai ended with a player being held up over the line. However, that was as good as it got for Marist. The rest of the half was dominated by Greytown. They were probably unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty try when they forced the Marist scrum to disintegrate near the try-line on two occasions. It was not long though before Greytown's third try. A slashing run by livewire winger Nick Robinson led to second-five Byron Karaitiana crossing for the five points. The first half finished with another intercept. This time fullback Nick Olsen latched on to a Marist pass and scored out wide.
Marist started the second half reinvigorated, and were rewarded with their only try two minutes after the restart. After concerted forward pressure close to the Greytown line, halfback Joseph Sio delivered a lovely pass to big prop Shannon Rimene who crashed over for the five pointer. The only other scoring was a Greytown penalty after 64 minutes.
